MNI BRIEF: Japan's Q3 GDP Revised Higher On Private Demand

Japan's economy contracted at a slower pace than initially estimated in Q3 as private demand and net exports were revised up slightly, second preliminary data released by the Cabinet Office Thursday showed.

The economy contracted 0.2% q/q, or an annualized 0.8%, compared with the first preliminary estimates of a contraction of 0.3% q/q or an annualized 1.2%.

In the revised data, capital investment rose 1.5% q/q, unchanged from the 1.5% rise seen in the preliminary release. The positive contribution from capital investments was unrevised at +0.2 pp.

Private consumption, which accounts for about 60% of Japan's GDP, was revised down to growth of 0.1% q/q from 0.3% q/q, pushing overall GDP up by 0.1 pp.

The contribution of net exports - exports minus imports - was revised to -0.6 percentage point from -0.7 pp. Private-sector inventories to total domestic output contributed a revised to positive contribution of 0.1 percentage point from -0.1 pp.

Public investment rose 0.9% q/q, revised down from 1.2%, and the GDP contribution of public investment was revised to 0.0 pp from +0.1 pp.